Elizabeth Tilley

Other Events:

• Name: Elizabeth Howland

Notes:

Biography:
From the Wikipedia entry for her husband:
Until Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation was discovered in 1856, it was presumed that John Howland's wife, formerly Elizabeth Tilley, was the adopted daughter of the Carvers. (Her parents, uncle and aunt who came to the New World died of sickness during the first winter.) This mistake was even recorded on a gravestone that was erected for Howland on Burial Hill, in 1836. However, the Bradford journal revealed that she was, in fact, the daughter of John Tilley and his wife, Joan (Hurst). Elizabeth Tilley Howland was born in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England where she was baptized in August, 1607. She and her parents were passengers on the Mayflower. John Tilley and his wife Joan both died the first winter as did his brother Edward Tilley and wife Ann. This left Elizabeth an orphan and so she was taken in by the Carver family. The Carvers died about a year later, and part of their estate was inherited by their servant, John Howland, and Elizabeth became his ward. In 1623/24, she married John Howland.
Elizabeth Tilley outlived her husband by 15 years. She died December 21 or 22, 1687, in the home of her daughter, Lydia Brown, in Swansea, Massachusetts, and is buried in a section of that town which is now in East Providence, Rhode Island.

Elizabeth married John Howland about 1623. John (son of Henry Howland and Margaret) was born about 1591 in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England; died on 23 Feb 1672/73 in Rocky Nook, now Kingston, Massachusetts; was buried in Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Desire Howland was born about 1625 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 16 Oct 1683 in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
2. John Howland was born on 24 Feb 1626/27 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died after 18 Jun 1699 in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
3. Hope Howland was born on 30 Aug 1629 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 9 Jan 1683 in Barstable, Massachusetts.
4. Elizabeth Howland was born about 1631 in Maine?; died in 1691.
5. Lydia Howland was born about 1633 in Maine?; died in Jan 1710/11 in Swansea, Massachusetts.
6. Hannah Howland was born about 1637 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died in 1708.
7. Joseph Howland was born about 1640 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died in Jan 1703/04 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
8. Jabez Howland was born about 1644 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died before 21 Feb 1711/12.
9. Ruth Howland was born about 1646 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died before Oct 1679.
10. Isaac Howland was born on 15 Nov 1649 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 9 Mar 1723/24 in Middleboro, Massachusetts.

Other Events:

• Baptism: 19 Dec 1571, Henlow, Bedforshire, England

Notes:

Biography:
From Wilipedia:
John Tilley (c.1571- winter of 1620/21) and his family were passengers on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact, and died with his wife in the first Pilgrim winter in the New World. Both he and his brother Edward signed the Mayflower Compact.
John Tilley was baptized on December 19, 1571 at Henlow, co. Bedford, England. He was the eldest child of Robert Tilley and his wife Elizabeth. John had a younger brother, Edward, who also came on the Mayflower with his wife. Both John Tilley, his brother Edward and their wives all perished that first winter in the New World.
There are few records of John Tilley’s life in England. His name appears in the will of George Clarke of Henlow, dated September 22, 1607 which notes that Thomas Kirke, then residing with Tilley, owed money to him. There is a record of a John Tilley, yeoman, residing at Wooton, Bedfordshire, who made a disposition on April 7, 1613 with his age stated as 40 years, which would probably make him the Mayflower passenger of that name. There is little information about the lives of John Tilley and his wife Joan. John Tilley was documented as a member of the Leiden Separatist congregation as well as his brother Edward. Edward’s ward Henry Samson may also have been a member.

On the Mayflower and in the New World
Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899
Per William Bradford’s later recollection of this family on the Mayflower: “John Tillie, and his wife; and Elizabeth, their daughter.”
The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship‘s timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.
On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day. John Tilley was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.

In the New World
Both John Tilley and his brother Edward were involved in the early exploring expeditions of the Cape Cod area in November and December 1620, with both suffering the effects of being ill-clad and wet in freezing temperatures. Edward, and it may be that John also died from the effects of the exploration weather.
One such extensive exploration in which the John and Edward Tilley are named as having taken part began on Wednesday, December 6, 1620 in freezing weather using the ship’s shallop – a light, shallow-water boat with oars and sails navigated by two pilots and crewed by a master gunner and two sailors. The Pilgrims on board for this expedition, in addition to John Tilley and his brother Edward, were John Howland, Stephen Hopkins and his servant Edward Doty. Senior members on the expedition included John Carver, William Bradford, militia captain Myles Standish and Edward Winslow. The number of persons on this exploration was less than half of a prior expedition due to many having been felled by illness, the English facing freezing weather wearing unsuitable clothing due to not planning for the severity of the New England winter. As recorded – “..very cold and hard weather..in which time two were sick.. the gunner also sick unto death..” This exploration would not turn out well for the English in their first encounter with Indians as they found that slow-firing muskets were no match for rapid-fire arrows. This Indian challenge to the Pilgrims was later known as the First Encounter.
John Tilley and his wife Joan both died the first winter as did his brother Edward Tilley and wife Ann. The only Tilley surviving from the Mayflower was John’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.

Death, burial and memorial of John Tilley and wife Joan
This family in the later recollection of William Bradford: “John Tillie and his wife both dyed a little after they came ashore; and their daughter Elizabeth married with John Howland, and had issue as is before noted.”
John Tilley and his wife Joan died sometime in the winter of 1620/1621, possibly after coming ashore, per Bradford, to the new Plymouth settlement. They were buried in Coles Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth, most likely in unmarked graves as with so many who died in that first winter. Their names, along with many others who died that winter, are memorialized on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb on Coles Hill as “John Tilley and his wife.”

John married Joan Hurst on 20 Sep 1596 in Henlow, England. Joan (daughter of William Hurst and Rose) was born in 1567 in England; died about Feb 1620/21 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Joan Rogers
• Name: Joan Tilley
• Baptism: Between 13 Mar 1567 and 1568, Henlow, Bedforshire, England

Notes:

Biography:
From Caleb Johnson:
Joan Hurst was born in 1567/8 in Henlow, Bedford, England, the daughter of William and Rose Hurst. She married first to Thomas Rogers in 1593 (not related to the Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers). With her husband Thomas, she had a daughter Joan, baptized on 26 May 1594 in Henlow. Attempts to determine what happened to Joan have so far been unsuccessful. She may have died young. When her first husband Thomas died, likely around 1594 or 1595, she remarried to John Tilly.
John and Joan (Hurst)(Rogers) Tilley came on the Mayflower in 1620, bringing with them daughter Elizabeth. Joan, along with her husband, died the first winter at Plymouth, orphaning their 13-year old daughter Elizabeth in the New World. Elizabeth would later marry to Mayflower passenger John Howland.

Robert married Elizabeth. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Elizabeth Tilley

William married Rose. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Rose Hurst